Kevin's Watch

Round of 16

Netherlands 3 def USA 1

Argentina 2 def Australia 1

France 3 def Poland 1

England 3 def Senegal 0

Croatia 1(3) def Japan 1(1)

Brazil 4 def Korea Republic 1

Morocco 0(3) def Spain 0(0)

Portugal 6 def Switzerland 1

My predictions (let's see how I go )

Netherlands
Argentina
France
England
Croatia
Brazil
Spain
Portugal

What I'd like to see

USA (I don't much like Netherlands)
Australia (it's a dream, but you know!)
France or Poland, don't really care
Senegal
Japan
Korea Republic
Morocco
Switzerland

Netherlands beat USA 3-1. I watched the 25m highlights. Netherlands looked strong although both teams had their chances.

Argentina beat Australia 2-1. Australia played as well as they could. Unfortunately Matt Ryan, the Aussie goalkeeper, made a mistake, gifting Argentina their 2nd goal. Messi scored their first in true Messi style.

Next we have France v Poland and England v Senegal...

The Netherlands were better organized for most of the game and took quick advantage of mistakes.

I missed the Argentina v Australia game.

I’d like to see Senegal advance and from what I’ve seen I think Morocco has a very real chance to make waves.

I have a sports betting app to check on the odds of different games. I’ve never used it. The other day I looked at the odds on the Brazil v Cameroon game and saw it was 7 to 1 for a Cameroon win and thought that would be a cool bet though of course I didn’t make it. The best moment of the tournament was the Cameroon goal and subsequent red card for the scorer taking off his shirt. He could have cared less about the red card and the referee gave him a smile and a pat on the back. It was the goal of his life! Cameroon went out, but they beat Brazil!

Yes, that was a nice moment. I liked that the ref was almost apologetic about the yellow card.

Both France and England have cruised into the quarter finals. Interesting that Poland had a chance to go 1 up, and really should have scored, but after that, it was the Mbappe show - he is amazing. France won 3-1, and England won 3-0. In that game, Senegal had 2 early chances that required top quality saves by the English goalkeeper. Once England got their first goal, they were in control.

Next, we have Japan v Croatia. That could be very interesting. And later is Brazil v Korea Republic. You'd expect Brazil to win that one, but who knows.

Brazil absolutely destroyed Korea Republic in the first half, up 4-0 at half time. From there, they cruised in the second half, and Korea to their credit got a goal back. Final score 4-1 to Brazil - they look dangerous.

I didn't see the Croatia v Japan game, which ended with Croatia winning the first penalty shootout of the tournament. I watched the 10 minute highlights, which didn't really give any indication of who deserved it. 3 out of the 4 Japanese penalty kicks were saved.

The last of the round of 16 games are Morocco v Spain and Portugal v Switzerland. I think we'd all like to see Morocco go through - it should be a good game. Portugal v Switzerland could also go either way.

A couple of entertaining games to finish the round of 16. Spain managed to put together nearly 1000 passes in their game against Morocco, but Morocco held them out through extra time to penalties. Then Spain didn't convert a single penalty - Morocco through to the quarter finals.

Portugal absolutely demolished Switzerland 6-1. The young Goncalo Ramos scoring a hattrick of amazing goals for Portugal. It is interesting that Ronaldo was on the bench until the 73rd minute, and Portugal played waaaaay better than I've seen them play.

So onto the quarter finals, we have:

Croatia v Brazil
Netherlands v Argentina
Morocco v Portugal
England v France

My predictions: Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, France.

Quarter Finals

Croatia 1(4) def Brazil 1(2)

Argentina 2(4) def Netherlands 2(3)

Morocco 1 def Portugal 0

France 2 def England 1

I caught some of yesterday’s games. I was in the waiting room at the auto dealer for some maintenance during The first half of Morocco v Spain and I saw some of the second half of Portugal when they were up 5-1.

I saw the 2nd half of Morocco v Spain and it was amazing!

Brazil continue the tradition of not living up to their hype. Overall they were the better team against Croatia, but they just couldn't break through, until an amazing bit of play by Neymar in extra time - all but securing victory. Croatia pulled a bit of a lucky goal in the dying minutes of extra time to force penalties. Croatia through to the semi-finals - a major upset!

Netherlands v Argentina was very entertaining. Argentina went up with some further brilliance by Messi, pulling off an almost impossible, but perfect, pass, to set up Molina. They went 2 up after a relatively soft penalty, and then came the Netherlands! A couple of great goals brought it back to 2-2, the second Dutch goal coming in the 101st minute to force extra time and then penalties. Argentina scrape through to the semi-finals.

Tomorrow morning (my time: 2am and 6am) we have Morocco v Portugal and England v France. Can Morocco continue the fairy-tale? Portugal look very strong... And England v France should be a tight game.

I caught most of the game between Croatia and Brazil. I’m happy for an old coworker of mine, his parents came over from Croatia, and he was active over here when Croatia gained its independence in the ‘90’s. He has had a tough year healthwise so for him I was happy for him to see Croatia move on.

Argentina versus the Netherlands was wild! A rather ill tempered game. I don’t think they’ll be getting together over a drink afterwards.

And now Morocco has beaten Portugal. A nailbiting last seven or eight minutes with Morocco on 10 men.

yeah Argentina and Netherlands certainly didn't like each other.

Incredible! Morocco have come through to the semi-finals after beating Portugal, who went from amazing to average in the space of a few days.

And I watched France beat England 2-1, a very entertaining game. Harry Kane is going to have nightmares on missing his penalty to take the game to 2-2.

Down to the semi's - Argentina v Croatia (I can imagine it might be fiery) and France v Morocco. Can France win back-to-back World Cups? The last time it was done was 60 years ago by Brazil.

Go France!

One half of my ancestry beat
The other half.

World Cup is all well and good. But now Sarge went and brought up genealogy!! DNA test, Sarge?

Since it hasn't been done in 60 years, I would really like to see France take it.

There’s some cross-promotion there

My ancestry has a good chunk of Italian, some German and a bit of Argentinian. I think I’ll go for France though!

Fist and Faith wrote:World Cup is all well and good. But now Sarge went and brought up genealogy!! DNA test, Sarge?

Since it hasn't been done in 60 years, I would really like to see France take it.

Took the test. I am English and French.

My England 🇬🇧 side is from Liverpool .

My French side came from France 🇫🇷
Through Canada 🇨🇦 to New Hampshire.

I just watched Argentina play their best game of the tournament. They were devastating in attack, beating Croatia 3-0. It was a close and cagey game until Argentina were awarded a penalty after half an hour. Messi put the penalty away - no goalkeeper would get near that one. Messi also featured with some magic to set up the 3rd goal. A big win for Argentina to get into the World Cup final.

I'm looking forward to Morocco v France tomorrow morning!

sgt.null wrote:My French side came from France 🇫🇷
Through Canada 🇨🇦 to New Hampshire.

Acadian DNA?

Fist and Faith wrote:

sgt.null wrote:My French side came from France 🇫🇷
Through Canada 🇨🇦 to New Hampshire.

Acadian DNA?

Oui.

I was born and raised in New Hampshire
But learned French first. They stopped
Teaching it to me because I wasn't learning
English. I remain with no French, but it is
My mother tongue. Seems in kindergarten
I was calling fish poisson and salt sel still.